‘The recent case of Vining & Ors v London Borough of Wandsworth [2017] EWCA Civ 1092 represents an attempt to circumvent restrictions on certain types of officers from enjoying employment law rights – in a claim of unfair dismissal and for a protective award in respect of an alleged failure in collective consultation relating to their redundancies.’

‘Having been cast as unnecessary “red tape”, a burden on business, inflexible, uncompetitive and inefficient, it is widely assumed that a sizeable number of domestic employment laws derived from European Law will be in the firing line in the event of a Brexit. In a well-publicised written opinion produced for the TUC, the leading labour law barrister, Michael Ford QC, has provided some support for this assumption. He noted the vulnerability of these EU-derived employment rights and labour laws, and divided and categorised them according to whether a future UK government would be likely to repeal, dilute or preserve them. In this blog, I will probe what might fill any void created by the removal of employment rights rooted in EU law. Surprisingly, the common law would appear to have as significant a role to play as domestic legislation in this context. The potential involvement of the common law is somewhat paradoxical, particularly in light of its perceived ‘undemocratic’ credentials, it being a source of law crafted incrementally by unelected judges.’

‘Permanent health insurance (PHI), also and probably more accurately known or described as Income Protection Insurance (IPI), can solve the problem of income protection when an employee is ill for a period beyond that where income is directly maintained by the employer. The employee has time to recover and the employer is relieved of the expense of paying the non-productive employee. But it is not always a Win-Win situation, particularly where there comes a parting of the ways between employer and employee.’

‘The UK has left itself open to corruption at the heart of local government, transparency campaigners warned, after it emerged that council workers have been routinely issued with gagging orders when they left public service.’

‘City Link did not breach laws requiring them to notify the government that they were “proposing to dismiss” thousands of employees who were made redundant when the business became insolvent last year, a court has ruled.’

‘An employee was dismissed as redundant for the purposes of an employer’s duty to consult about proposed collective redundancies if the reason for his dismissal was not something to do with him—such as something he was or something he had done—but was a reason relating to the employer, such as his need to effect business change in some respect.’

‘Those responsible for employment decisions in firms and businesses with multiple office locations will have been relieved that the Advocate General recommended a reversal of the Employment Appeal Tribunal’s interpretation of ‘one establishment’ in the Woolworths cases (USDAW v Ethel Austin Ltd (In administration) UKEAT/0547/12/kn[2013] IRL886) when his opinion was handed down on 5 February 2015. However, as the European Court of Justice is not obliged to follow the AG’s opinion, we still have some time to wait for further clarity on this issue.’

‘UK rules limiting collective consultation requirements to cases where an employer was proposing 20 or more redundancies “at one establishment” are compatible with EU law, according to an adviser to the EU’s highest court.’

‘If you are an advisor who only occasionally dabbles with tax issues in settlements for fear of having to delve into murky tax law, take note of a recent decision providing a lucid summary of the relevant principles. The case is also a cautionary tale for claimants challenging tax assessments as the claimant’s unsuccessful challenge before the First-Tier Tax Tribunal (FTT) resulted in a tax bill larger than the one sent to him by HMRC. If Oti-Obhihara [2011] IRLR 386 and Orthet v Vince Cain [2005] ICR 374 ring a distant bell from advising on settlements past, they should now be retuned to the sound of alarm bells as the FTT in Moorthy v HMRC [2014] UKFTT 834 (TC) has doubted their correctness.’

‘Caroline Jennings reviews the recent EAT case of Palmer v RBS UKEAT/0083/14 which concerns whether or not a statutory restriction on eligibility for early retirement benefits could amount to age discrimination.’

‘The Ministry of Justice is trying to re-employ more than 2,000 prison officers who only recently took voluntary redundancy, in a move to avert a crisis triggered by the rising number of prisoners in Britain’s jails.’

‘Ashworth and others v the Royal National Theatre [2014] 1176. Anyone who saw one of the early performances of War Horse in its first season at the National Theatre will remember how profoundly moving was the live music, with the musicians visible along the sides of the theatre above the stage. Since that highly successful (and profitable) first season the role of the orchestra had been radically reduced, and now looks as if it is about to vanish altogether.’

‘Employers who were public administrative bodies or sovereign states were not exempt from the obligation to consult employees’ representatives about proposed collective redundancies imposed by section 188(1) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, as substituted.’